The Episcopal Church is refusing to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa citing moral opposition.
In a letter on Monday, Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, said they are declining a request from the federal government to help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status by the Trump administration due to the church’s longstanding “commitment to racial justice and reconciliation,” according to the Washington Post.
“In light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step,” Rowe wrote. “Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government.”
Rowe added that the Episcopal Migration Ministries will seek to “wind down all federally funded services by the end of the federal fiscal year in September,” but they will continue to support refugees who have already been resettled.
NPR noted that the Episcopal Church is part of the global Anglican Communion whose former leader the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was a vocal opponent of apartheid in South Africa. The church has also advocated against apartheid.
The announcement comes as flights with the first batch of Afrikaners were scheduled to arrive at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, D.C. on Monday.
The Trump administration granted refugee status to the Afrikaners on the basis of what it calls anti-white discrimination from South Africa’s government.
South Africa has called the accusations “unfounded” and said they do not meet the “threshold of persecution required under domestic and international refugee law.”
Trump granting refugees status to white South African under false pretenses comes as he signed an executive order to shut down the refugee resettlement program hours after taking office in January.
A judge has since blocked Trump’s attempt to suspend the refugee resettlement program, but refugee groups say the government is “delaying compliance” with the court order.
“We are concerned that the U.S. Government has chosen to fast-track the admission of Afrikaners, while actively fighting court orders to provide life-saving resettlement to other refugee populations who are in desperate need of resettlement,” Rick Santos, head of Church World Service told NPR.
“By resettling this population, the Government is demonstrating that it still has the capacity to quickly screen, process, and depart refugees to the United States. It’s time for the Administration to honor our nation’s commitment to the thousands of refugee families it abandoned with its cruel and illegal executive order.”
[Featured Image: White South Africans demonstrate in support of Donald Trump in front of the U.S. embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, on Feb. 15. (Photo: Jerome Delay/AP)]
